Organizations whose activities focus on influencing public policy within the Religion Related, Spiritual Development major group area. Includes a variety of activities from public education and influencing public opinion to lobbying national and state legislatures.

Learned societies, professional councils, and other organizations that bring together individuals or organizations with a common professional or vocational interest within the Religion Related, Spiritual Development major group area.

Religious organizations that provide opportunities for people to satisfy their inner needs and enhance their spiritual growth through organized worship or through other devotional activities under the auspices of one of the group of religious faiths that is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Use this code for Christian denominations that are not specified below as well as their ministries, missions or missionary activities; bible camps and schools. (rev. 11/04)

USE X22 for all Roman Catholic Churches and related organizations; USE X21 for all other Christian Churches and their related organizations.

Excludes: Christian organizations whose primary activity is not religious-based. For example, a nursing home owned and operated by a Christian-affiliated organization would be coded with an E91 Nursing Facilities code and not an X20 Christian code. Also excludes Jews for Jesus organizations, USE X99 Religion-Related N.E.C.

Religious organizations whose form of Christian faith and practice originated with the principles of the Reformation. Use this code for Protestant churches as well as their ministries, missions or missionary activities; bible camps and schools; and bible distribution programs.

Religious organizations characterized by their acknowledgement of the supreme authority of the bishop of Rome, the pope, in matters of faith. Use this code for Roman Catholic churches as well as their ministries, missions or missionary activities; bible camps and schools; and bible distribution programs.

Organizations whose members are a worldwide group which constitutes a continuation through descent or conversion of the ancient Jewish people; who practice Judaism, a religion that is characterized by a belief in one God and in the mission of Jews to teach the oneness of God as revealed in the Hebrew scriptures. Organizations making reference to Lubavitch, Chabad, Yeshiva, and Torah should also be classified here, but not necessarily those mentioning Israel, Hebrew, and Shalom.

Scope notes:Excludes: Zionism, the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, advocated, from its inception, tangible as well as spiritual aims, USE Q01.

Organizations whose members are followers of Islam, the religious faith and cultural system that is based on the belief in Allah as the sole deity, in Mohammed as the prophet of Allah and in the Koran as the revelation of Allah to Mohammed and the divinely authorized basis for the religious, social, civil, commercial, military and legal regulations of the Islamic world.

Organizations whose members are followers of the religion of eastern and central Asia that is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha which stress that suffering is inherent in life and that one can achieve nirvana (release from suffering) through mental and moral self-purification. Includes Zen.

Organizations whose members are followers of the religious philosophy that originated on the Indian subcontinent and is marked by an outlook that tends to view all forms and theories as aspects of one eternal being and truth; a belief in ahimsa, karma, dharma, samsara and moksha; and the practice of the way of works, the way of knowledge or the way of devotion as the means of release from the round of rebirths.

Organizations with religious affiliations that are engaged in publishing, production or programming that has religious content. Use this code for organizations utilizing multiple types of media or for media not specified below.

Organizations representing multiple faiths that have gathered together to establish a worldwide Christian (or other religious) unity; to promote cooperation on such common tasks as supporting missions, working with students and sponsoring conferences; to establish mutual understanding regarding the fundamental issues of belief, worship and polity; and to serve as a united witness on world problems.

Use this code for organizations that clearly provide services relating to religion where a more specific code cannot be accurately assigned. Examples may include Unitarianism, Taoism, Sikhs, Zoroastrism, Atheism, Actualism, Theosophy, Bahaism and reference to miracles.